One of the most heart-wrenching stories we’ve ever chronicled came in the form of an almost-three-year-old toddler who lost her mother in April after an ATV accident in Jasper County.
Baby Lily Jones was staying with her father in Flora when the accident occurred. Zeph Jones had never married Andrea Weiler, who died a few days after the accident, but they had been together for a number of years, and had only been split the previous six months of Lily’s young life. He was the only parent she had left, so guardianship, Zeph figured, was automatically conferred to him.
But that’s not what Andrea Weiler’s mother, Sherrie Kittle, believed. Less than a month after the accident, and during a weekend visit Zeph was kind enough to allow Kittle to have, Kittle retained Flora attorney Mary Beth Welch Collins, and filed a probate case for baby Lily, effectively stealing her from her own father. Despite presentation of a birth certificate which bore his name, as well a an Indiana affidavit of paternity (as Lily was born in Vincennes), Kittle was able to keep the little girl from her own father—until a scheduled hearing on July 17, at which time DNA proved definitively Zeph Jones was the father, and the law of the state won out. Find out what drove Kittle to do what she did by reading our next installment of “Read the Lead,” “Baby Lily home with dad after court order“:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CLAY CO.—After effectively having his daughter abducted from him following a weekend visit with her grandmother in early May, Zephrum Jones has his little girl back.
On Wednesday, July 17, an order was entered in Clay County circuit court for Sherrie Kittle to return Lily Jones to her father Zeph Jones by 9 a.m. Thursday morning, July 18.
That order, and the return of the three-year-old to her father, brought an end to a battle that began in the days following the death of Lily’s mother, Andrea Weiler, 25, in mid-April after a four-wheeler accident on the 14th of that month fatally injured Weiler.
This left Lily, who has just turned three years old, rightfully in the custody of her father, with whom she was staying that weekend, as it was his visitation on their regular schedule (the couple had split just six months prior, having never married, but Jones was on the birth certificate as Lily’s father, and he and Weiler had been together for several years prior to the breakup).
As a result of the loss of her mother, it was assumed that Lily would just stay with Jones, and he began reworking his life to be full-time father instead of every-other-weekend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zeph Jones and his baby, Lily
You can read the rest of the story by clicking this link to get started with your online subscription, or pick up a print version (they are FLYING off shelves, so hurry) at these vendors! We are attempting to replenish those vendors that have sold out, so be patient….we’ll get them re-stocked as we can!